Farscape box set

Toy Vaultby yo go re

While Trekkies were busy bemoaning the downward spiral that their pet series had been in ever since DS9 ended, another sci-fi series sneaked onto the scene. With action, adventure and more alien species than you could shake a cantina at, Farscape eclipsed Trek in every way possible. Except, apparently, ratings, at least according to SciFi Channel president Bonnie Hammer.

Citing "softening ratings" (the show was moved from 9 to 10 p.m., easily eliminating a chunk of its audience) and increases in production costs (increases created solely by SciFi requesting additional airing rights), Bonnie dropped the hammer on Farscape as production wrapped for fourth season, giving the creators no time to tie up loose ends and leaving fans with one of the most infuriating cliffhangers in television history.

Together by no choice of their own, the inhabitants of Moya can be called a "crew" only by default. Far from home, with no captain, no chain of command, and no reason to stay together other than a common enemy pursuing them, they're forced to trust one another.

So, what's the show about? Astronaut John Crichton is pulled into a wormhole and tossed across the universe. Spit out the other side of the universe's cloaca, he finds himself on a prison ship that's just been overrun by the prisoners. Of course, the jailers - a group called the Peacekeepers - are trying to regain control, which puts Crichton right in the crossfire.

Back when Farscape enjoyed the wholehearted support of the SciFi Channel, the show got a line of action figures from Toy Vault. There were individually carded versions of the show's stars (plus plenty of exclusive variants) and a big box set of Series 1's four main figures: John Crichton, Pa'u Zotoh Zhaan, Ka D'Argo and Chiana.

When Bonnie Hammer tried to speak to news outlets about upcoming projects, all reporters wanted to discuss was the cancellation of Farscape and the fan reaction. She said Children of Dune, they said Crichton. She said Tremors: The Series, they said Aeryn Sun. The show was almost universally praised as a bastion of high-quality television, and its cancellation did nothing but generate bad publicity for the network.

Finally, the fans' message got through to the network: SciFi announced a four-hour miniseries, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. Built (loosely) around the outline for Season 5, The Peacekeeper Wars promises to be huge. In order to condense 22 episodes into four, a lot of the slow build has been ditched in favor of complete balls-out action. The entire cast has returned, ready to show SciFi why it was wrong in the first place, and the audience - 'Scapers and novices alike - will do the same.

Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars premieres Sunday, Oct. 17, at 9 p.m., 8 Central, and continues Monday at the same time. Depending on how the miniseries does, there may be more in the future. Big boxed sets of all four full seasons are available on DVD, as well, so if you get hooked, you can catch up.